Psalm 8 - God Reveals Himself Through His Creation

When I was twelve years old I went deer hunting in Wyoming with my Dad and Mom and  one of my Dad's hunting buddies and his wife .

The day we arrived, we drove out to our guide's ranch to site in rifles. Afterward on the drive back from the guide's ranch, we pulled over ( I think my Dad had to use the roadside).

The place where we pulled over was a very "scenic overlook". The walls of the canyon we were stopped at were, on one side and the end,sandstone. The sandstone walls were bright brownish red with lighter red-brown streaks. The "wall" on our side was rocky soil, covered with millions of blooming flowers, very-very steep. The site was absolutely breath taking, even for a twelve year old!

This is the very first time I knew for sure there was a Creator. I can't, and couldn't at the time prove to you or anyone else that there is a God. I did know in my heart, however,  then and now that there is a God. I will never forget that feeling - that snapshot of God - The Creator (Romans 1:19-21)

Have I let Him down since then? - every day. I have done some despicable things since that time, but then that's the whole point, Romans 10:9 tells us that:      If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved

Many times since then I have thought of that shepherd boy - David, later to become king of Israel as he tended his flocks.

Day after day. month after month, seeing and living in God's Creation. Seeing grass, flowers, trees as well as geographic wonders by day. At night camping under the stars, pondering the universe and realizing his own insignificance while realizing God's overwhelming significance at the same time. - My experience on steroids!

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This is a short study from 2007. This is one of my favorite pieces of Scripture and I desperately want to share this study with you. It is truly ancient praise but oh so contemporary.

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Psalm 8

For the director of music. According to gittith ^[a].

A psalm of David.

1 O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!
       You have set your glory
       above the heavens.

A. 1^st Lord = Hebrew NAME of God. Yahweh, eternal, supernatural

       B. 2^nd Lord = master, superintendent, king, of men

·          the idea is that God of their worship is their master. He is Greater than His creation (Rom 1:19-23)

C. The earth is to small for His Glory – It takes an infinite universe to show The Glory of an Infinite God

2 From the lips of children and infants
       you have ordained praise ^[b]
       because of your enemies,
       to silence the foe and the avenger.

A.    God uses the weakest, most frail instrument to give him praise. Their instinct is to give Him spontaneous praise – He, because of His Glory, is so apparent.

B.    God uses these to silence those who rail or come against Him (Matt 21:16). – Read Matt 21;14-17

 3 When I consider your heavens,
       the work of your fingers,
       the moon and the stars,
       which you have set in place,

A. The magnificence of the visible heavens for the purpose of illustrating God , who, though the mighty Creator of these glorious worlds of light, makes man the object of His favor.

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
                the son of man that you care for him?

A.    literally “frail” man

B.    son of man – all lower case, only varies in the form of speech, mankind.

C.     Care – some versions say visiteth = God shows us favor  (Psalms 65:10)

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings ^[c]
       and crowned him with glory and honor.

A.     Next in dignity to angels – but a little lower

B.     Crowned with the position between God and His creation

C.     Glory and honor = royal dignity (Psalms 21:5,45:3)

 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
       you put everything under his feet:

A.     Position of man is described as that originally assigned to Adam (Genesis 1:26-28)

B.     Man still invested or assigned to dominion over God’s Creation

C.     Man has dominion only because Christ being fully human was the second Adam (Hebrews 2:5-12)

 7 all flocks and herds,
       and the beasts of the field,

 8 the birds of the air,
       and the fish of the sea,
       all that swim the paths of the seas.

A.     Mankind, because of Jesus having conquered death, has dominion  and all thing “put under his feet” and all thing subject to him (1 Peter 3:22)

 9 O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!

A.     Announcing and declaring God’s Glory is the end as well the beginning of this Psalm

B.     God’s Glory CANNOT be overstated – it is to big for this earth, our minds  to comprehend or understand.

C.     We must learn all we can – renew our minds (Romans 12:1&2) as well as meditate on His Word (Joshua 1:8) and pray (Listen let Him speak to us)

D. Very appropriate ending